124 GLASS HOUSES, 



Mr. Rivers makes the Frenchman exclaim, on enteiing^ the 

 orchard-house, "This is my climate ! " the Scottish highlander 

 might say of a wintry day in the Peak of Derbyshire that it 

 differed little from the stormy days on his native mountains. 



Such being the case, Mr. Paxton must have recourse to 

 certain artificial means to improve the climate. He had heat 

 under control by means of pipes, &c. in his glass houses ; but 

 light was scarce, and much wanted where the climate of " sunny 

 skies " had to be imitated. Consequently, he had recourse to the 

 bow window, which necessarily admits more light to an apart- 

 ment than a hole in the wall, and, with this light, more sun- 

 heat. Here then we have a principle developed. Economy is here 

 out of the question — glass by the acre, hot-water pipes by the 

 mile. To imitate Angers in Hertfordshire is one thing, but to 

 imitate Hindostan in the Peak of Derbyshire is quite a different 

 affair ; and it is not to be wondered at that parties under such 

 dissimilar circumstances, and with such dissimilar ends in view, 

 should arrive at different conclusions and pursue unlike paths. 

 The closely-glazed bow-window, or, in other words, the ridge 

 and furrow roof, and expensive columns of heated iron, are 

 necessary to conquer the sullen temper of the climate of the 

 valley of the Derwent : whereas the chinks and rents of the 

 weather-boarding of the orchard-house in Hertfordshire are 

 found salutary to the inmates. 



From the foregoing remarks I would fain argue the necessity 

 of studying the locality where a glass house is to be built and 

 the ends in view, lest the bow-window, from not being necessary 

 in all cases, may be really injurious, and, what is of equal im- 

 portance, it may add 30 per cent, to the cost of erection. 



Some years ago I had glazed quarries of cast iron made to 

 answer the purpose of hand-glasses. I found that, with four 

 inex])ensive boards and one light, I made a good hand-glass, 

 which roofed four square feet of land with about four square 

 feet of glass; and when I took a common hand-glass of sufficient 

 size to roof the same four square feet of land, I found that it 

 contained rather more than twelve square feet of glass ; and 

 whilst these quarries could be used to grow pines, vines, &c., 

 and fall into any right-angled figure, the hand-glass was only 

 available for the single purpose for which it was made. The late 

 Mr. Loudon, speaking of these quarries (in Gard Mag.), said 

 that he considered them one of the greatest improvements in 

 horticulture that had been introduced in his time. But persons 

 who have been in the habit of having glass fronts and backs to 

 their plant-houses are ready to condemn all erections otherwise 

 constructed ; and this is just the time to discuss the matter with 

 such parties, and see if their ideas can be supported by facts. 



